Police sniff gang rivalry in murders

GAUTAM SARKAR IN JAMALPUR (MUNGER)

Three youths were found dead on Wednesday morning beside the railway tracks near Dashrathpur railway station in the Sahebganj-Kiul section of Eastern Railway.

Dharhara police claimed that the youths having criminal antecedents were killed over gang rivalry. But residents of Dashrathpur said Maoists killed them because of their involvement in petty crimes. A case has been registered at Government Railway Police station, Jamalpur.

Jamalpur superintendent of railway police (SRP) Amitav Das said two of the deceased youths had been identified as Gautam Yadav (25) and Jai Shanker Yadav (30), residents of nearby Fardha hamlet under Naya Ramnagar police station. The third body (in the age group of 26-27) is yet to be identified.

“The youths were killed some place else. Their naked bodies having gunshot injuries were dumped here,” the SRP told The Telegraph.

After preliminary probe, Dharhara police said the youths had criminal antecedents and might have been killed because of gang rivalry.

Contradicting the police claim, residents of the area said the three youths had gone to a nearby village to attend a marriage ceremony on Tuesday night. After the party, they returned to the in-laws’ place of Jai in Dashrathpur, around 20km from the Munger district headquarters.

“The youths were killed by the Maoists for their involvement in petty crimes,” a Dashrathpur resident said.

Woman lynched

Maoists allegedly sexually abused and lynched 25-year-old Hemanti Devi and injured her husband Kameshwar Yadav near Jhajha in Jamui district on Tuesday evening.

Kameshwar named 10-12 Maoists, including one Bajrangi Yadav, in the FIR on Wednesday. He said around 16 rebels had intercepted the couple around 7pm. Police said Hemanti was sexually abused before being lynched but they were waiting for the autopsy report.